Council of Canadians Kent County chapter activist Ann Pohl (second from the right) stands beside NDP MP Romeo Saganash after the debate on Bill C-262 this past Monday February 5. Pohl was also in the House of Commons public gallery for today's historic vote.

The House of Commons has just voted in favour of Bill C-262, An Act to ensure that the laws of Canada are in harmony with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP).

Numerous chapters - including the Kent County, Kitchener-Waterloo, Quill Plains (Wynyard), North Shore, NWT, Montreal and South Niagara chapters - had contacted their Member of Parliament to encourage them to vote in favour of the legislation. Kent County chapter activist Ann Pohl was in the House of Commons public gallery for both the debate on the bill on February 5 and tonight's second reading vote.

Council of Canadians organizer Robin Tress was present for the removal of the statue of Edward Cornwallis on January 31. Photo by Stephen Thomas.

On January 30, the Canadian Press reported, "Halifax council has voted to immediately remove a statue from a downtown park, with several councillors calling the bronze figure of the city’s controversial military founder a barrier to reconciliation."

In response to that 12-4 vote, Council of Canadians honorary chairperson Maude Barlow tweeted "Very good move".

The Council of Canadians has supported Indigenous-led efforts calling for the removal of this statue of Cornwallis. The Chronicle Herald explains Cornwallis was "a soldier who infamously issued a bounty on the scalps of Mi'kmaqs".

The Council of Canadians Victoria and Cowichan Valley chapters helped to organize against the proposed Steelhead LNG project on Saanich Inlet.

CHEK reports, "Steelhead LNG will no longer be looking at building a floating LNG processing plant on Malahat First Nation owned Bamberton industrial lands. The project was announced for the Saanich Inlet south of Mill Bay in August of 2015. It immediately proved controversial garnering stiff opposition including from other First Nations in the area. Late Friday, Steelhead LNG confirmed it is no longer moving ahead with the project."

The Council of Canadians and Detroit-based environmental justice allies gathered in Detroit in October 2015 to learn from each other and to strategize for wins like this one!

The Council of Canadians Windsor-Essex chapter began speaking out against petroleum coke being stored near the Detroit River in early 2013.

The Chronicle-Herald has explained, "Owned by Koch Carbon, a company controlled by the industrialists Charles and David Koch, [petroleum coke] is a byproduct of processing heavy bitumen piped from the tar sands in Alberta to a Detroit refinery. Most petroleum coke, often referred to in the oil industry as pet coke, is used as inexpensive fuel in countries like China, India and Mexico with relatively loose emissions controls."

The privatization bill was passed by Brad Wall's Saskatchewan Party majority in the Legislature on April 26 and received Royal Assent on April 27.

The bill allowed the government to sell up to 49 per cent of a Crown corporation – such as SaskTel and SaskPower – without holding a provincial referendum. The legislation followed a World Bank definition of privatization in which nearly half of a public entity could be owned by private shareholders without technically being privatized.